Jessica filled her suitcase with the things she felt she would need in the short term and sat down to write a note to her roommates about the stuff she was leaving behind and then in an envelope she put in enough money to cover her share of the rent for the rest of the year plus a little more.

The taxi would be coming soon to take her to the airport and she spent her last few minutes wandering the small house, touching memories and purging her guilt over leaving without notice. When she heard the car outside she grabbed her suitcase and went to the window. Ralph and Donald Carver were climbing out and heading up the walk.

Jeff had his cab stop at the end of the street and he sat trying to figure out what to do. A moment later another taxi pulled up to the house and blew the horn. He saw Carver stop and look around and then flap his arms as another taxi squealed to a stop and Orly lurched out, charging up over the lawn and waving a large gun.

Orly's taxi and the one that honked both slammed their cars into gear and peeled away up the road past Jeff. His own driver expressed an urgency to depart so Jeff paid him off and stepped out, moving quickly behind a large maple on the boulevard.

Ralph bounced down the steps from the house, one hand holding his face the other waving at Orly who was jumping from side to side and shouting incoherently. Jeff watched with interest as Ralph grabbed Carver, wrapping his arms around him while yelling something at the jitterbugging Orly.

"Get that twisted spook under control or I'm gonna do 'im. I haven't got time for this crap, Morrison."

"Settle down. Jesus, Orly put down that gun, there's neighbours all over the place here, and we'll be crawlin' in cops."

Orly made a few more undecipherable remarks and then dropped his arm, bending from the waist and heaving for breath. "Better, okay. Now, let's get to the business at hand shall we."

"I'm tellin' you, Ralphy, one more stunt from the living dead there and he's crow meat."

"Can you stop with the insults, Donald, it doesn't make things any easier." Ralph steered him toward the house and Orly managed to follow, still panting and wheezing through his tubes.

Jessica hauled her suitcase over the back fence and dragged it down into the lane behind the houses. She would have to find some place to hide until she could get a taxi and that left precious few options in a residential subdivision.

She hurried up the lane to the side street and made for the little convenience store in one of the corner houses. As she ran the thought of Jeff getting one of these visits made her choke up and tears filled her eyes. She felt ashamed and guilty at involving a decent, innocent guy in her scheme. She'd call and warn him. The store had a sign indicating a public phone inside and she pushed through the door into the store, anxious to get away and leave it all behind.

Jeff slipped up the driveway and saw that there was a lane running behind all the houses on the street and he dashed down the drive to where he thought Jessica's would be just in time to see a woman with a suitcase exit the lane onto the street. Jessica! He took off at a quicker pace, absently admiring her instinct for survival.

He reached the street only to find it empty and he stopped, studying the houses. The small sign for Coca-Cola caught his eye and he darted down to the corner to the little store and peered through the grubby glass. Jessica was hanging up the telephone and walking to the counter. He debated going in right away then decided to wait outside to see what she did.

Ralph slammed drawers and doors and cursed aloud as he stamped around the house looking for some clue as to Jessica's whereabouts. Donald leaned against the wall and watched with a bored disgust; Orly was across the room trying to glower through the slits in his head bandage.

"Well she ain't here so Christ knows where she went."

"Wanna try two and two, Ralphy?"

"Two and two what?"

"There was a second taxi outside honking his horn, remember?"

"Yeah, so . . . ooohh . . ."

"Yeah, oh. She was here and she saw us and took off; probably while this bozo was acting out his mad monster man act."

"I asked you not to call him names."

Donald laughed and left the room shaking his head.

"He's dead," Orly muttered to Ralph who held him up with a hand on his chest.

"Later, when we've got the stuff he's all yours, pal."

"You guys comin'? She's gotta be on foot somewhere around here so let's shake a leg before she really disappears."

********

Jeff saw the taxi stop around the corner and he stepped forward as Jessica left the store. Her little gasp turned to a brilliant smile of relief and she waved him toward the cab.

"Hurry, they'll be right behind us soon." He climbed in behind her and the cab took off turning along the next street and north toward the freeway. "How did you find me? I called to warn you." Her voice was filled with surprise and admiration.

"Long story. They all know the truth, Jessica, what are you going to do?"

"What I said before, someplace warm and safe." She leaned back and crossed her legs, uncomfortably noticed by Jeff as he checked the road behind them. "You could still join me, Last Chance." Her smile burrowed under his skin and he licked his lips.

"You honestly think that gang will give up looking?"

"This can buy a lot of anonymity." She patted her handbag possessively.

"What about conscience?"

"What about it? These guys are gangsters, Jeff. It's not like I'm stealing from widows and orphans."

He looked disappointed and sighed aloud. The small dot on the road behind them was growing larger quickly and Jeff swallowed hard, tapping the driver on the shoulder and promising a bonus if he lost their sudden company.

"This is what I meant," he said, watching the other car. "They won't let you get away." Jessica sat silently, checking her watch and chewing on a nail. "We need lose these guys and fast."

The driver glanced in his mirror and then at Jeff who was watching him. "I got a family, man, I can't be getting into gang wars. I'm pulling over, you guys can hop out and forget the fare."

"No! I'll give you a hundred to keep going to the airport and lose that car." The driver began to slow. "A thousand!" Jessica sat forward holding a handful of bills so that he could see. The cab leapt ahead and at the next corner nearly went up on two wheels making the turn.

"They spotted us, floor it." Donald gripped the armrest with steel fingers.

"They're headed for the airport I'll bet." Ralph put his big sedan into a side slip and rounded the corner with minimal fishtailing. "Maybe we should just head there the fastest way possible."

Donald glared at the speck of the cab as it vanished around another turn. "Do it."